Buzz Bingo has been told by the Advertising Standards Authority to not include themes and imagery within its adverts that could appeal to those under 18 years old after receiving a complaint about a cartoon Halloween ad.
The advert in question was published on Buzz Bingo’s Facebook page on October 20, 2023, promoting Halloween offers on the operator’s platform in a cartoon manner, which has been labelled by the ASA as “irresponsible” and breaching advertising code.
Buzz Bingo’s post featured “animated footage of a large full moon above a scene which featured grinning pumpkin heads, a lit church with towers whose roofs resembled pointed witches’ hats, bats flying around, a spider in a web and a graveyard with a tombstone and a cross. Text in a font which resembled slime stated “MONSTER MONDAYS – £50,000 MUST BE WON EVERY MONDAY IN OCTOBER”.
The ASA added that the logos for Buzz Bingo and “18+ – BeGambleAware.org” appeared at the bottom of the screen as well.
A complainant has challenged the ad as they believe it has breached the advertising code, noting that “the cartoon Halloween imagery was likely to appeal to children”.
In response, Buzz Bingo’s parent company Buzz Group stated that the ad was featured on their social media page that is restricted to Facebook users aged 18 or older and was part of a focused campaign targeting users aged 25 who had confirmed bingo interest.
In addition, Buzz noted that the advert being on Facebook was “evidence for the accuracy of their targeting” and therefore “had acted and had taken precautions to prevent children and young people being exposed to the ad”.
However, the operator did acknowledge that the Halloween imagery within the ad could appeal to children, resulting in them removing the ad after receiving notification of the complaint. They also said they were “making changes to their internal marketing approval procedures”.
Assessing the advert, the ASA ruled that “Halloween and the traditions surrounding it were likely to have strong appeal for children”. The style of cartoon imagery used and the term “monster” were determined to likely appeal to children.
The authority noted that the advert would have been acceptable if the advert only appeared on a medium where under-18s could be excluded entirely from its audience.
However, Facebook wasn’t deemed by the ASA as such an environment as it does not use “robust age-verification”, as users self-verify on sign-up rather than through “marketing lists which had been validated by payment data or credit checking”.
The advertising authority added that it had acknowledged the actions taken by Buzz in response to the complaint, but concluded that the ad was “irresponsible and breached the code” and therefore must not appear on its channels again.
Buzz Group have also been told by the ASA “not to include themes or imagery that were likely to have strong appeal to those under 18 years of age in their ads in future”.
